Watchmen

In the United States, costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society. But, when one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up, but no less determined, masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover the plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion, a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers, Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future.

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If you're looking for superhero ideals and razzle dazzle, you're not going to enjoy this film. If you want dirt, grit, and all of the muck that is the human condition masterfully written and beautifully shot, then you're in luck.
This is film noir. Not Captain America. This one is for grown-ups. Not just the biologically adult, but emotionally and spiritually as well.

Based on the Alan Moore graphic novel by the same name. If you haven't read the novel then the complex narrative structure and deep societal message will be difficult to interpret. I watched this movie when it came out and was confused. Recently read the novel and re-watched this film - absolutely loved it. Snyder was true to the novel and made me feel like the pages truly came to life.

Beyond the scope of art. This masterpiece weaves and evokes so many parallels one could go one forever, hence the reason it is on numerous top lists. I remember actually collecting AND reading this when it came out in 1985? I bought it on a at the time big risk, back then to a kid the cover price was a lot of money. But, we didn't have the same expenses like today, we didn't have cell phones which are now the ankle bracelets of yesteryear, difference is we pay for them back then you had to break the law to earn one, now everyone has on and is tracked and monitored, but alas I'm one the last thinkers the type of people government wants to see die off, and like the book "Who watches the watchers?" See, my point why this book is pure art, because its foundation is mortared in logic and morality even subjective. It points out that mega man is not perfect nor are we, and we are molded after him. So Dr.Manhattan may be omnipotent he is like all of us, flawed and human, the essence of the book by Moore and Gibbons in all our history, thinking, art, living we are different and that is what makes life, painful and beautiful. Love, sex, free will is in the eye of the beholder.

The opening fight scene is a decent homage to A Clockwork Orange but the rest of the film is pure cancer. It tries to innovate by creating flawed heroes, but the flaws are base. One hero is a rapist, another a dissolute lush, another an impetent loser. Basically they're the superheroes of your county's SO registry, and of the low-class filmmaker, not mankind.

I guess you could call this an intelligent super hero movie, but for all the intelligence this movie it has it lacks in every other area. Can’t understand why the high ratings, definitely skip this one….

I did not enjoy this show. If you like action and super-heroe movies you will be disappointed. The story is convoluted,and the heroes are so messed up, and you have to watch of their sad stories. The show was about 2 hours too long.

I overall enjoyed this movie as I feel like the great (Rorschach & Doc Manhattan’s performances, the opening scenes, the skill with which the flashbacks were incorporated, the production design, etc) outweighs the not so great (obtrusive musical score, Ozymandius & Silk Spectre’s performances, that sex scene, the fact that somehow all the human heroes seem to have super strength, etc). Though, while watching it, the thinness of the “whodunit” story became apparent to me–which I don’t think is so much a fault of the film as much as the possibly over-hyped (by many, myself included) source material.

Summary

In an alternate 1985 where former superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it.